Snip by snip, he heard city's stories

After 56 years at the barber chair, Nick Kefaleas puts down his scissors

By Dan O'Brien, dobrien@lowellsun.com

Updated:
04/06/2013 02:44:04 PM EDT

A CUT ABOVE: Over more than a half-century of cutting hair, Nick Kefaleas, 81, has wielded his combs and clippers on them all, from judges to "underworld" characters. "It's time," Kefaleas said of closing Nick's Barber Shop on Market Street. SUN / DAVID H. BROW

LOWELL -- From city councilors to judges, and even to various elements of Lowell's "underworld," Nick Kefaleas was ready with a pair of clippers and some friendly conversation.

For fifty-six years.

"It was a lot of fun, and it is going to be hard to give up," Kefaleas, 81, said this week from inside his now-closed Nick's Barber Shop, at 569 Market St. "The people are the best part of this business."

Outside the shop, a small sign hangs on the door saying, in part: "Retired. Thank you for your patronage. Barber shop 4-sale."

As his daughter, Sophia, pointed out, Kefaleas is leaving in a way his favorite performer, Frank Sinatra, would appreciate: His way.

"It's time," Sophia Kefaleas said. "His family has always come first.

For generations, Nick Kefaleas, 81, has been the man to see for a haircut and good conversation in Lowell, watched over by his partner, Frank Sinatra, and snapshots by the hundreds. He got his start in 1957. "In those days, you got your hair cut every two weeks, then got your shoes shined." SUN / DAVID H. BROW

Kefaleas was the youngest of four children born to Greek immigrants who, like so many others, settled in Lowell's Acre neighborhood during the first half of the last century. Educated in Lowell schools, Kefaleas joined the Navy in 1950, serving overseas during the Korean conflict.

"I'm very proud of that," said Kefaleas, who remains active with the Greek American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans. "I'm also proud that I never collected unemployment. I'm not one for loafing around."

Kefaleas began cutting hair (and shaving faces) in 1957 on Merrimack Street working for Peter Metropolis. Eighteen months later, he bought Metropolis' store and was on his own.

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He thrived right away.

"In those days, you got your hair cut every two weeks, then got your shoes shined," Kefaleas recalled, noting that there were dances for young adults to primp for.

A haircut was $1.15, a shave an even $1.

A few years later, Kefaleas encountered the first of many challenges.

"When the Beatles got big, it wreaked havoc on my business," he said, as young men let their hair grow into the "moptop" style of the Fab Four.

To further complicate things, a fire in 1965 forced the business to move to Suffolk Street.

Kefaleas' service background provided a ready response. As fewer people came to him, he took the initiative to visit those who couldn't. He became a fixture at hospitals, and even made house calls, to cut hair on those unable to get out.

"I didn't charge them," Kefaleas said. "I figured they had enough problems without having to worry about paying me."

Sophia, from the time she was 9 or 10, was ready and willing to tag along, carrying her father's bag.

"I am a Daddy's girl," she said, even now as a married mother of three. "It made me feel grown-up to help him."

Business eventually came back, and Kefaleas settled into a routine of clipping hair, playing Sinatra on the radio and sharing conversation with the likes of former state Rep. Ed LeLacheur, City Councilor Tarsy Poulios and Judge Paul Fitzgerald.

He can even remember actor and Lowell native Michael Chiklis, of The Commish and The Shield fame, visiting as a 4-year-old.

"He was a wild one," Kefaleas said with a chuckle. "He was always climbing the pole to try to get to the ceiling. One time I bet him a free haircut if he could make it to the top.

"He didn't make it."

On a more serious note, Kefaleas recalled one of his regular customers angrily coming into his shop many years ago and saying he wanted to "kill his wife."

"I remember telling him that things would work out and he looked at me and said, 'No, I'm serious. I want to kill her. Will you kill my wife?' " Kefaleas said. "He offered me $10,000 to kill his wife. I just told him, "I cut hair. That's it.' "

The unnamed customer, who Kefaleas said was linked to organized crime, never went through with his threat. He did, however, continue coming to Nick's for haircuts.

Nick's Barber Shop was in business for 38 years at 412 Suffolk St., before the building was sold and remodeled. In 2002, Kefaleas moved the business around the corner to Market Street.

Kefaleas, who played tennis until he was 74, considered retiring after 50 years in business but decided he wasn't ready. Even a 2009 heart attack, which led to double-bypass surgery and shut him down for several months, wasn't enough to get him to close the doors of the 150-square-foot, two-chair shop.

State Rep. Tom Golden, who grew up on the same street where the Kelafeas family lived, joked that Nick "would never retire."

"You always make sure to say hello to him because he is genuine," said Golden, a Democrat who has served Lowell since 1995. "Just a great, great guy. He is a warm-hearted man and the mere mention of his name brings a smile to my face."

But a month ago, a knee injury prompted Kefaleas' doctor to look him in the eyes and say, "You can't do this anymore."

Kefaleas finally agreed.

"It's time," he said, as he closed the door to the business and stepped outside into the bright early-spring sunshine.

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